This invention relates to an apparatus for use with semi-trailers, and more particularly to apparatus for retracting bogie-locking coupling pins to facilitate positioning of bogies under the bed of a semitrailer. More particularly, this invention relates to an operator for a pin retractor mounted on a bogie included in a tractor trailer rig. This invention also relates to mechanisms including a threaded shaft and a partial nut which allows lineal movement between the shaft and partial nut through rotational motion of the shaft or an axial pulling motion exerted on the shaft.
Tractor trailer rigs include trailer beds that are supported above a roadway by a tandem-wheeled "bogie". Truck drivers find that it is necessary to move the trailer bed forward and backward relative to the bogie to support the load that they intend to carry on the trailer bed properly. Pins are used to lock a trailer bed in a fixed position relative to an underlying bogie. These pins must be dislodged, oftentimes not an easy task, to enable a truck driver to move or reposition the trailer bed relative to the underlying bogie.
Drivers dislodge the pins by operating the tractor to rock the trailer bed forward and backward while someone, or some device, pulls on a handle of a pin retractor mounted to the bogie to retract the pins and decouple the trailer bed from the bogie. Drivers would welcome a detachable pin retractor operator that is attached to the bogie to pull on the handle of the pin retractor while the driver operates the tractor to rock the trailer bed until the pins coupling the trailer bed to the bogie are retracted and which does not need to be removed prior to repositioning the trailer bed over the bogie.